Point 14
Pumacurcu
Climbing to this point in San Cristobal, we can see where the mountains meet and
transform from quiet countryside into cultivated terraces, and then into clusters of
houses with red tile roofs. This transformation silences ancient histories, and with
the force of our imagination we can erase what is before us to see only the
mountains, a few terraces and a stone roadway continuing upwards.
We can also see a group of indians gathered around an enormous timber, waiting for
the Inca. We see that this road leads up the mountain to the most powerful and
imposing of Incan constructions, Saqsayhuaman. Above us there was a large Chacco,
a corral for herds of llamas and alpacas. Right here is where wild animals were
subdued, tied to a large tree trunk before the Inca. This is where the Inca was
presented with the pumas and the at’oq, or foxes, caught in the surrounding woods.
These wild animals were captured to prevent them from attacking the herds of
llama and alpaca. They were also used in sacred ceremonies. It is no coincidence
that the city of Cusco was designed by the Incas in the form of a puma, that
magnificent feline that leaves an indelible mark throughout the Andes.
As such, Pumacurcu is the thick wood trunk where the wild puma is tethered, the
massive timber where the fierce feline is subdued.
I imagine you here, tied with many ropes to the wood beam, glaring… growling…
vibrating. The arch of your back tells of your travels in the mountains, your
encounters with thunder and lightning, in the very heart of Pachamama. You stare
into the faces of your captors and roar ferociously. There is a gleam in your eye that
contains all the energy that moves between heaven and earth, energy that ties you
tightly to your tail, energy that you hold tightly in your paws, energy that you keep
carefully in your secret forest lair. Puma of the Andes, you strike any animal dead
with a single blow. You haunt my dreams, dreams of unstoppable rebellions, dreams
of inevitable forces of change. You strike like the river, with the uncontainable force
of water boiling through canyons.
Your paw strikes, revealing what is hidden in my heart.